You imagine Mrs. Seaton will look me up this morning?" Cartwright said
presently.

"Yes, sir. She called and demanded to see you. In fact, I think she
doubted when I told her you hadn't come back from the North. She said
the shareholders' meeting would be soon and she expected you to give a
bigger dividend; the Blue Funnel people had paid five per cent. If you
didn't return before long, she might run up to Carrock. So I sent the
telegram."

Cartwright nodded. He trusted his bookkeeper, who had grounds for
imagining it was not altogether desirable Mrs. Seaton should arrive at
Carrock.

"Have you heard anything from Manners while I was away?"

"Nothing direct, sir. His nephew, Hatton, came round with a tender for
the bunker coal, and implied that he ought to get the job. Then I had a
notion Mrs. Seaton, so to speak, was _primed_. Looked as if somebody had
got at her; her arguments about the dividend were rather good."

"It's possible," said Cartwright dryly. "If she comes, you can show her
in. But what about the wine?"

"I don't know if it will see you out. There's not a great deal left, and
last time--"

Cartwright's eyes twinkled. "Exactly! Send for another bottle and see
you get the proper stuff. Some of the biscuits, too; you know the kind.
Rather a bother, but perhaps the best plan!"

"Safer than going out to lunch," Gavin remarked. "Then, in the office,
you're on your own ground. That counts."

"Gives you moral support and handicaps an antagonist who's not a
business man?" Cartwright suggested. "Well, perhaps it does so, but I
see some drawbacks. Anyhow, get the wine."

Gavin went off and Cartwright mused by the fire. The morning was raw and
foggy, and if he went out, the damp might get at his throat; moreover,
Gavin would reply to his letters. Cartwright had begun to feel it was
time to let others work while he looked on. His control counted for less
than he had thought; things went without much guidance and it was enough
to give them a push in the proper direction now and then. To rouse
himself for an effort was getting harder and he would have been
satisfied to rest, had not his pride, and, to some extent, his
step-children's antagonism, prevented his doing so. He needed money and
would not use his wife's.

One must pay for old extravagances, and the bills were coming in; Mrs.
Seaton's expected call was an example. Ellen was a widow, but before she
married Seaton, Cartwright knew she counted him her